Quote of the Day: N.H. GOP Has Jumped the Shark
Oh my. 200 NH Republicans show up to cheer skyping Jas OKeefe for evading grand jury summons. NH GOP has jumped the shark. #NHPolitics
— Raymond Buckley (@ChairmanBuckley) May 6, 2012
Sullivan Skewers Bettencourt Over O’Keefe Defense
When the New Hampshire Democratic Party called on Republicans to boycott the gala reception and fundraiser featuring convicted right-wing provocateur James O’Keefe, state House Majority Leader D.J Bettencourt leapt to O’Keefe’s defense. Former Democratic Party chair Kathy Sullivan couldn’t let that one go by unanswered.
James O’Keefe Featured Speaker for GOP Fundraiser
Right-wing provocateur James O’Keefe, who is under investigation by the state Attorney General, will be the featured speaker on Sunday at a gala reception and fundraiser hosted by the Rye Republican town committee.
“Why are Republicans honoring a confessed law breaker as their special guest?” asked Democratic Party chair Ray Buckley. “Is that the kind of message that Republicans want to send? That it is okay to break the law if it is in service to an extreme Tea Party agenda?”
The Attorney General is investigating O’Keefe for sending his associates to obtain New Hampshire primary ballots using the names of deceased voters. In 2010, O’Keefe was arrested for attempting to tamper with the phones of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu. He plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of entering federal property under false pretenses.
“Instead of honoring this fellow, which in essence really is a stamp of approval on what he has done,” said former Democratic Party chair Kathy Sullivan, “I would expect elected officials and Republican candidates for office to step away for him. They should not honor him or celebrate with him.”
GOP candidates slated to attend the reception include Congressmen Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass, gubernatorial candidates Ovide Lamontagne and Kevin Smith, state Executive Councilor Chris Sununu, state Sen. Nancy Stiles, and state representatives Will Smith and Brian Murphy.
Do the GOP candidates “believe it is okay to plot to tamper with a U.S. Senator’s phone as long as the Senator is a Democrat?” asked Buckley. They “should make it clear publicly that they will refuse to stand with O’Keefe and call on the Rye Republicans to cancel this event.”
What did the Speaker Know and When Did He Know It?
Did state House Speaker Bill O’Brien have advance knowledge that James O’Keefe would be sending his associates to obtain New Hampshire primary ballots using the names of deceased voters? Did he get a sneak preview of the video before it was made public? Writing in The Lobby, the anonymous “Mr. Snitch” suggests he did.
Bully’s sure been busy now that the session is in full swing. So busy, in fact, you’d think he wouldn’t have the time to act as a production consultant with James O’Keefe, conservative activist, pretend journalist and Mama’s Boy (what else do you call a 27-year-old male son who still lives at home, nicely ensconced in Mom-and-Pop’s North Jersey manse, Snitcherinos?)
Turns out Jimmy the Jerk, a convicted felon BTW, gave Bully a heads up on his little voter fraud skit. Explains why Bully was all set with his righteous indignation sound bites for Channel 9 after the video magically appeared.
O’Brien “Saw Fit to Inflate His Cause with Hot Air”
The title of the Keene Sentinel editorial reviewing the James O’Keefe voter fraud gotcha video gets right to the point: “Right-wingers try a new tactic to justify suppressing the vote.”
The piece warns against using the stunt to justify legislation that would restrict voting rights and nails House Speaker Bill O’Brien for asserting that the revelations threaten the New Hampshire primary.
He saw fit to inflate his cause with this hot air: “I’m afraid — I hope it doesn’t come down to this — it challenges our first-in-the-nation primary position.”
If the state ever does lose its presidential primary status, the Speaker can rest assured that revelations by gotcha-video actors posing as dead people won’t be the reason; more likely a cause would be the existence of a law that suppresses the vote of people who are still alive.
Before They Were Famous: Spencer Meads
Spencer Meads, Nashua native and president of the Ohio Wesleyan College Republicans, has been on radio and television bragging about how he obtained New Hampshire primary ballots using the names of deceased voters.
But before he earned his 15 minutes of fame committing voter fraud, the James O’Keefe wannabe was the accidental star of a Media Matters video on how NOT to track.
There is nothing wrong with tracking — Media Matters regularly sends trackers to conservative events — but if you are going to track, perhaps it would be a good idea to come prepared with more than a single question based on a false premise. And when you are confronted with your own questions, have a better answer than rubbing your nose and mumbling.
James O’Keefe Targets N.H. Primary
The New Hampshire primary is the latest target of James O’Keefe, the infamous right-wing videographer whose video stings have staged encounters with ACORN, Planned Parenthood and NPR.
The actors in O’Keefe’s latest escapade requested — and received — ballots yesterday using the names of registered voters who died in the last three months.
In one case, the plan was foiled by a Manchester Ward 9 voting supervisor who knew the man had recently died (but not that she was the victim of an elaborate hoax).
When the pretend voter noted he almost got away with fraud, Pilotte told him: “That would be on your conscience, not mine.”
O’Keefe — who was arrested in 2010 for attempting to tamper with phones in the New Orleans office of Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu — claimed, ”We used no misrepresentation and no false pretenses.”
